


Sometimes Your Big Weird Family Is the Greatest Mystery of All

by goldfishoflove



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alcohol, Angus may or may not be a silver dragon, Candlenights, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Marijuana, Multi, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but Angus ALWAYS may or may not be a silver dragon, extremely stupid jokes, in responsible moderation, it doesn't even have swears, mild suggestive language, seriously this one is very wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 10:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16973274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldfishoflove/pseuds/goldfishoflove
Summary: It’s Angus’s first Candlenights after the Day of Story and Song, and he’s spending it with the people who matter most. But will an important Candlenights surprise be ruined? Will someone’s dark secret be revealed? Or will everything turn out okay in the end because this is a lighthearted fanfic and even these goofballs can’t mess up a holiday about family and love? Careful gumshoe, don’t jump to conclusions! It’s the Adventure Zone!





	1. Chapter 1

Angus looks at the door and double-checks the address written neatly on a scrap of notebook paper. He’s standing in the middle of a bustling Neverwinter commercial district; the cobblestone roadway is covered in mud and frozen slush, and the shabby door in front of him is crammed haphazardly between two shops. It has the right number on it, though, so he knocks, and a few seconds later he hears a crackle of magic and a heavy bolt sliding out of the way. Cautiously, he reaches for the handle.

As he turns it, a cold wind begins to rush around him, blowing flurries of loose snow into his face. When he unsquints his eyes, the city street is gone. He’s standing on the porch of a sturdy cabin in the middle of a quiet pine forest. Its roof is frosted with a crust of pristine snow, and the track leading past the front door is smooth and white.

“Well don’t just stand there letting the heat out!” calls Taako’s voice from inside. Angus perks up and enters.

“Ango!” Magnus is waiting to scoop him up the moment he steps inside, depositing him on a brawny shoulder. “Happy Candlenights!”

“Hello, sirs!” Angus crows. “Nice portal, Taako! That was really well hidden.”

“Well thank you, little man.” Taako saunters around the counter in the open kitchen, wiping his hands on a frilly apron. “But for once the brilliance wasn’t mine. That one was all Kravitz.” He crooks a fond smile at the reaper’s back.

Kravitz looks up from an armchair by the fire. He closes his book over his finger and waves it amiably. “Hi, Angus.”

“Happy Candlenights, Mr. Kravitz.” Angus cranes his neck to look towards the reaper until Magnus takes the hint and sets him down so he can walk over. “Whatcha reading?”

“Oh, it’s trash,” Kravitz says dismissively. He tucks a bookmark into it and sets it on an end table. “Pulp horror novel. I like to follow the trends just to see where the would-be necromancers are getting their ideas from these days.”

Taako leans over conspiratorially. “Don’t listen to him,” he says at a perfectly normal speaking volume. “He loves them, he just won’t admit it.”

“I don’t,” Kravitz begins, with the tender exasperation of a well-trodden argument, but he’s interrupted by a ripping sound. Snow swirls through a portal for a moment, and then two hooded figures are standing in the center of the room.

“What _is_ it with you people letting cold air into my beautiful warm home today!” Taako huffs. “Honestly. You go to all this work to set up a cool portal, and--”

“Happy Candlenights to you too, jerk.” Lup pushes her hood off, and for a second she and Taako wear mirror images of the same defiant pout. Then she laughs and drags him into a hug, and he makes a dramatic show of rolling his eyes without actually pulling away.

Barry is wiping the fog off his glasses with a handkerchief when Magnus thumps him on the shoulder.

“Good to see you, buddy!” Magnus says. Barry replaces his glasses and breaks into a smile.

“Mags!”

They embrace. It’s a little weird watching a near-stranger act so familiar with someone Angus thinks of as family. Of course they’ve known each other much longer than he has; he knows their story. _Everyone_ knows their story. But it’s one thing to hear a heroic legend in your head from the light of a magic space fish and another to just see those heroes being … people.

“How’s work?” Magnus asks.

“Oh, you know.” Barry wiggles his fingers. “Spooky.” They laugh and turn away to talk in lower voices as Magnus carries Barry and Lup’s robes to a coat rack by the door.

Angus looks around the cabin for the first time. It’s deceptively spacious. If he weren’t familiar with the onerous arcane energy requirements to maintain a long-term pocket dimension, he would suspect that it really was bigger on the inside. After a quick mental calculation, he decides it’s probably just good interior decorating. Soft light from sconces around the walls disappears above the exposed rafters, and woven rugs in tasteful earth tones warm up the wooden floor. There’s ample seating around the fire where Kravitz is, a long dining table on the far side of the room, and the bottom of a staircase in the corner behind that.

The kitchen area looks newer than the rest. Its counters are unstained and the appliances are all top of the line. Lup is perched on a stool, already at work grinding spices in a mortar. Her hands continue the quick, steady motion as she looks around.

“Did you build this place, Magnus?”

Angus shakes his head immediately. “I don’t think so. I think he just remodeled it.”

Lup looks down at him and raises her eyebrows. He’s mortified--she wasn’t even talking to him, he’s been trying to get better about not interrupting--until she smiles.

“Why’s that, Angus?” she asks.

“Well, um.” Angus looks over at Magnus and then back to Lup. “The kitchen’s new, because obviously Taako would want a new kitchen, and all the furniture is new, and I bet he made some of that. But the building materials are much older. Older than how long he’s been on Faerun, I think.”

Magnus is grinning. “Maybe I just built it out of old wood. Did you think of that?”

“I did!” Angus feels relieved. If he were wrong, Magnus would be trying to keep a straight face so as not to give it away. He’s not, so Angus must be right. “You certainly have the _skills_ to do that, but you haven’t had the _time_. Not while running your dog school. You could have rushed it, but you would never do that!”

“Now you’re just flattering him,” Barry laughs as Magnus claps with delight. “You must be Angus. It’s good to finally meet you.” He extends a hand.

Angus shakes it gratefully. “It’s a pleasure, Mr. Bluejeans!”

Taako and Lup immediately burst out laughing. Barry looks pained. “Oh, please, Mr. Bluejeans is my … nobody, actually. No one has ever been Mr. Bluejeans.” He grins. “I’m just Barry.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, too, Barry. I hear about you sometimes from your wi--” He stops and blinks, realizing a moment too late that he’s never actually heard anyone _say_ that. A furtive glance makes him flush with embarrassment; their ring fingers are bare.

Barry looks more startled than offended. His eyes meet Lup’s instantly. She’s doing the same thing Taako does sometimes, where she laughs with just her eyes to make you think she didn’t want you to notice. Angus sweats as he looks back and forth between them, wondering how he’s supposed to break the increasingly nervewracking silence.

A cool hand falls on his shoulder. He hadn’t heard Kravitz approach, but he stands up straighter under the touch.

“I’m glad you’re early, Barry,” Kravitz says. “I wanted to show you something.”

Barry tilts his head curiously. Kravitz steps to one side, and Angus looks into the corner behind him for the first time. He looks back in time to see Barry’s eyes widen.

“You got a piano! Do you play?”

“Not in … a long time.” Kravitz manages to look sheepish without losing his poise. “But I’ve been missing it lately, so I thought I would give it another try. It’s coming back, slowly.”

Barry chuckles. “I’m sure you’re in better practice than I am.”

 

A knock on the door heralds a flurry of noise: Magnus hollering absolutely unnecessarily that he’ll get it, followed by a round of rowdy greetings. Mookie is already halfway around the room, commenting loudly on everything, when Mavis ducks past Merle and comes inside. She looks uncomfortably around a room full of her dad’s old friends before her eyes land on Angus and she brightens.

“Angus! Have you read the new Caleb Cleveland yet?”

“I just finished it! Have you?”

“Ugh, I’ve had so much homework. I’m almost done, though.” Mavis drops her satchel and throws herself into the corner of a sofa. “I was going to try to finish it before everyone else shows up.” She starts to dig through her bag.

“I’ll keep you company,” Angus says.

In practice that means he sits on the other side of the couch while she reads, enjoying the fire and the respite from conversation. He watches Merle make blustering conversation with Kravitz, and Magnus chase Mookie around until they go around the wrong side of the kitchen and Taako smacks Magnus’s butt with a spatula to shoo them away. Barry is sitting on the piano bench flipping through a book of sheet music. He seems glad to have a moment to himself also, and Angus files away that bit of common ground.

The twins chat in low voices while they cook. Angus is too far away to hear them, but he can tell it’s not about what they’re working on. They simply move too fast for that. While she opens the oven he’s already tossing her a potholder, and she catches it without turning around; he nods approvingly at the temperature of the oil in a frying pan just as she sweeps the last of the diced onions into a bowl and slides it over. Besides, they’re smiling too much for procedural talk, and occasionally they glance simultaneously at the same person: first Magnus, then Barry, and later Kravitz.

 

A low rumble from outside grows gradually to a volume that Angus can’t ignore. It stops outside with a crunch of broken snow crust, and he realizes what it is just in time to anticipate the slam of metal doors and another knock. Kravitz gets it this time, and is put in the awkward position of introducing himself to the two newcomers while simultaneously welcoming them into his home. He handles it with his typical grace. Angus is more surprised by Mavis’s reaction.

“You came!” She drops her book and runs to the door, where she’s immediately embraced by four willowy arms. Literally willowy.

“Of course we came,” says Sloane. “It’s not every day we get to hang out with our favorite dwarf.”

“I’m standing right here, you know,” Merle says, but it’s reflexive. His eyes are twinkling.

“Exactly.” Hurley grins. “Someone’s gotta keep an eye on these troublemakers.”

Angus tries not to stare, but it’s hard. Their barklike skin flexes naturally as Mavis drags the pair around making introductions, and strands of leaves cascade over Sloane’s shoulders. The two stay close together, and when their fingers intertwine, he loses sight of the seam between their hands.

The dryads turn towards him, and Angus sees Sloane hang back a little as she looks over his shoulder at the hearth. Angus jumps up from his seat immediately and walks over to meet them well away from the fire.

“Hi!” he says. “I’m Angus McDonald. You must be Miss Hurley and Miss Sloane.”

“Our notoriety precedes us,” Sloane laughs. Her skin is rough but her handshake is gentle, and as he gets used to the texture of her face he can make out the good-natured crease in her eyes.

“It does,” Angus agrees. “Fame, too, though.”

“Likewise, Angus,” Hurley says. She punches him lightly in the arm. It looks effortless but still stings, and he’s a little awed when he thinks through the implications of that. “We get your case reports down in Goldcliff sometimes. Really tight work. If you ever need a change of scenery, you’d be worth any two of our militia detectives.”

Angus feels a pleasant mix of pride and surprise, and he squares his shoulders.

“Don’t listen to her, Angus,” says Sloane. “Come see us, but don’t do it for work. We’ll take you for a drive, there’s nothing in the world like it.”

“Isn’t he a little young for that?” Hurley protests.

Angus starts to object, but Sloane beats him to it. “Oh, yeah? How old were you when _you_ started racing?”

“Old enough to know better,” Hurley replies without hesitation. They exchange a look that Angus isn’t sure how to describe, but feels a lot like the way their hands join, fitting perfectly.

He sits with Mavis and the dryads around one end of the dining table, listening to them catch up. He figures out that they haven’t seen each other in a while, but they’ve been exchanging letters pretty often. When he lets slip that he doesn’t know how they know each other, he’s treated to Mavis’s account of her rescue in Goldcliff on the Day of Story and Song. He assumes it’s exaggerated, because it’s a good story, but not too much, because it’s Mavis.

The sun is starting to set when a sudden thud rattles the frame of the cabin. A couple of the guests look alarmed, but Angus’s face lights up. When Magnus opens the door this time, Angus is waiting eagerly beside him, and he catches just a glimpse of the huge glass ball in the snow behind four figures on the porch.

“Happy Candlenights, Madame Director!” he exclaims.

She laughs softly. “‘Lucretia’ is fine, Angus. Happy Candlenights.” She bends to give him a hug, and it’s startling but not unwelcome. The Direc--Lucretia--has changed the most, he thinks, of the people he knew before. He’s not sure whether she’s happier or sadder. Both, maybe. He feels a little uncomfortable with how much he knows about her now, after hearing a hundred years of her diaries; it wasn’t usually personal, but sometimes it was, especially in the hard years where there wasn’t much to do but feel. He tries his best to forget about it and just talk to the Lucretia he knows.

“Happy Candlenights, Spaceman!” Carey launches herself into Magnus’s arms, and he’s ready with a hug that threatens to engulf her.

“Happy Candlenights, Lizard Girl.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call _me_ that.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

“You’re both hopeless,” Killian says with an affectionate eye roll, and Carey grabs her with a scaly hand and pulls her into the hug.

Finally, Avi stamps the snow off his boots and closes the door behind them. He smiles broadly when he sees Angus.

“Angus! It’s been quiet on the moon without you.” He extends a hand and Angus fistbumps him without hesitation. “How’ve you been? School okay?”

“School is great!” Angus takes Avi’s blue jacket without really thinking about it, and finds a place for it on a rack that’s getting crowded. “If I pass my last practical in the spring I’m going to be skipping an entire year of classes. I’m a little nervous, though. It’s the planar theory exam and it’s administered by Dr. Miller himself.”

“Aw, Lucas? He’s not so bad. Little weird maybe, but all of us are a little weird, right?”

Angus looks around. He sees liches, reapers, and dryads. He sees parents, siblings, couples, and a triad. He sees adventurers and interplanar explorers. He sees friends.

“Yeah,” Angus says. “I guess we are.”


	2. Chapter 2

Angus feels the sensation of magic pressing on his mind, and stiffens with alertness until he sees Taako wink at him from across the noisy room. He relaxes and lets the telepathy spell take effect.

 _Hey Ango_ , Taako thinks in his head. _Will you help me set the table?_

 _Sure!_ Angus replies. He excuses himself and hurries towards the kitchen.

 _Not here_ , Taako thinks. _China cabinet. Behind Sloane._ Angus sees it in his mind from Taako’s perspective a second before he finds it with his own eyes. As he walks back to where Sloane and Hurley are still sitting with Mavis, he looks around and counts. Eleven, twelve, and the twins in the kitchen make fourteen.

 _Fifteen including you_ , Taako reminds him. _And we’re expecting one more._ Angus feels the spell fade.

He takes the plates out of the cabinet in four careful stacks of four. They’re crystal, fancy even for a rare occasion like this one, and he admires each one as he sets it neatly in its place. He finds glasses, flatware, and linen napkins in the same cabinet, and when he’s almost done Kravitz appears out of the crowd with a stack of small cards with names on them. Angus follows him around the table, trying to work backwards to the constraints that govern their placement.

“You’re not sitting with your boyfriends,” he notices.

“We’re the hosts,” Kravitz explains. “It’s our job to look after everyone, and that’s easier if we spread out. Besides, we seated the other couples separately too.”

“Wouldn’t they like being next to each other?”

Kravitz nods. “That’s why. It’s easy to fall back on talking to someone familiar instead of meeting someone new.”

Angus looks at the cards again. “Then why are Taako and Lup sitting together?”

“Why do you think?”

Angus considers the rules he’s figured out so far. Lup will be at the head of the table, next to her brother and a few seats away from her partner. She’s not hosting, but she did do a lot of the cooking. Maybe that counts for something? He looks over at the kitchen.

Almost all the preparation is finished. Taako is leaning against a counter with his arms folded, watching Lup put icing on a tray of cookies, and he says something that makes her laugh so hard she has to drop the piping bag. She goes to smack him, but he dodges easily and smirks at her.

“… because Taako made the seating chart,” Angus says.

Kravitz smiles. “You’ve discovered the only rule that actually matters.”

Angus is so busy helping the twins carry serving dishes to the table that he almost misses the last arrival. It’s only when he hears Magnus bellow “CAP’NPORT!” that his eyes widen and he spins around to look.

If Lucretia has changed the most emotionally, Davenport has changed the most physically. It’s only been a few months since Angus last saw him, but he’s visibly more muscular, and his beard has gotten full. There’s a glint in his eyes as he brushes snow off his shoulders. He’s talking animatedly with Magnus and Lucretia, and Angus feels a tinge of guilt at finding that strange.

Davenport sees him watching and waves. His voice rings out with surprising power from his small frame, but its timbre hasn’t changed. “Good to see you, Angus! Happy Candlenights!”

Angus waves back, relieved that the strangeness isn’t mutual. “Happy Candlenights, Captain Davenport! Welcome back!”

By the time they actually sit down to dinner, every corner of the cabin smells amazing, and Angus’s mouth is actually watering as he pulls out his chair. For a few minutes most of his attention goes to passing dishes and trying to sample some of everything. Magnus, sitting next to him, is more than happy to help; every time someone hands him a dish, he gushes to Angus about how good it’s gonna be and makes sure he gets a generous serving.

Conversation picks back up again slowly. Magnus catches him up on the progress of the Hammer and Tails, interspersed with stories from a domestic life that’s still a little new: rebuilding Taako’s kitchen, finding the piano for Kravitz, building his workshop out back. Angus repeats what he told Avi in more detail, describing the friends he’s making at school and the classes he’s looking forward to. Then Carey grabs Magnus’s arm from the other side and starts telling him a joke that Angus is pretty sure he’s not supposed to listen to, so he lets his attention wander.

Davenport is holding court mid-table with a story about pirates and a fearsome sea serpent of some kind. Angus can only catch every third word or so, but from the gesturing and the rapt audience it seems like a good one. At the far end, Lucretia and Kravitz are talking softly together, but they're both so reserved in their expressions that Angus can't guess what it's about.

“It sounds like you’ve got a fun semester ahead of you.”

Angus’s attention snaps back to his immediate surroundings. Barry, sitting on his right, pops a brussels sprout in his mouth and looks at him with interest. It’s the first time Angus has heard him say anything since they sat down, and he realizes that Barry has been watching and listening too, including to his conversation with Magnus.

“Y-yeah! Apart from the planar theory exam, I’m really looking forward to it!”

“Planar theory, huh? What kind of stuff are they teaching you?”

Angus opens his mouth to rattle off what he knows about the principles of interplanar bonds and realizes just in time who he’s talking to. His eyes widen.

“Oh, geeze, I guess it would be pretty easy for you. You invented most of this stuff!”

Barry screws up his nose. “I didn’t _invent_ any of it. Me and Lup just figured out some things that were already true, that’s all.”

“Maybe so,” says Angus, “But it would still make my exam a cinch!”

“Not necessarily.” Barry punctuates his train of thought with gestures of his empty fork. “The same concepts can be modeled totally differently depending on who’s doing the modeling. The way Lucas teaches probably isn’t how I’d teach it. Hell, the way I’d teach it now is pretty different from how I learned the basics back home.”

“Huh. That makes sense.” The gears in Angus’s head turn. “In that case, want to study with me sometime?”

Barry looks surprised, then settles into a warm smile.

“I’d like that,” he says earnestly, and Angus beams.

Barry turns to hold out his glass to Killian, who’s reaching across the table with a wine bottle. Looking past her, Angus sees Lup’s eyes flick from him to Barry and back. She grins, and it reminds him of the other thing he was going to say.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” he says in the lowest voice he can muster. “I don’t know where I got the idea that you and Lup were--”

Barry is already waving his apology away. “Oh, uh, don’t worry about it. It--it’s not a weird assumption, given … everything.” He laughs, but it’s awkward. Even though Angus is sure the forgiveness is genuine, there’s a note of tension behind it, something he’s not saying. He reflexively starts sorting through the facts in his head.

It isn’t really that strange that Barry and Lup aren’t married. If it had happened while they were exploring on the Starblaster, it would have been in Lucretia’s journals, and everyone would know about it. It’s only been six months since they were reunited, and at the time they were a little busy with the apocalypse. Then it was months while they grew Lup a new body, then they were training and hunting for the Raven Queen, so if they were waiting for a calm day to talk about something as serious as marriage, they probably didn’t get one until, well, until …

… until _tonight_ , actually.

Angus sits up very straight. He turns away quickly to hide his wide eyes.

He knows why Barry’s nervous.

 

A few people stand up, Barry and the twins among them, and start unhurriedly shuttling empty dishes to the kitchen. The tray of cookies Lup was decorating earlier appears on the kitchen counter, followed shortly by a selection of pies, and the party spreads out around the cabin with dessert plates.

Angus helps himself to a cookie and climbs into an armchair before all the good spots are taken. He’s just in time; when Kravitz starts noodling on the piano, the other seats nearby fill up quickly. A minute later, Magnus appears over Angus’s shoulder with a steaming mug.

“Hey kiddo. Want some cider?”

“I’d love some, thank you!”

Magnus settles comfortably on the arm of Angus’s chair. As he passes Angus the mug, Kravitz finishes playing, to a smattering of cheerful applause.

“Hey, Krav!” Lup calls out. She’s leaning over the back of the sofa, behind Barry. “Do you know, um …” she snaps her fingers a couple of times, trying to remember, and then rattles off a phrase in Elvish. Angus’s Elvish is okay, but Lup’s is fast and thickly accented, and he doesn’t catch it.

Kravitz looks puzzled. “I don’t think so … how does it go?”

“The chorus is like …” She starts to sing.

The mystery song has the simple melody of an old carol, something intended to be learned quickly and sung in a group. Angus makes out something about a fairy in a snow palace, visiting someone, or being visited by someone maybe? He wishes he had a pencil handy to jot it down for later.

Lup raises her eyebrows at the end of the refrain, but Kravitz shakes his head apologetically. She looks surprised.

“Really? Huh. Bear, you know this one, right?”

“Yeah, of course, used to hear it everywhere growing up.”

Kravitz gestures invitingly at the piano, and Barry tilts his head over the back of the couch to look up at Lup. “Wanna hear it?”

“Yes, please!” She leans down to kiss him, upside down, before letting him stand to take Kravitz’s place.

The chords flow smoothly out from under Barry’s fingers, and Lup joins in at the start of the verse. A few other voices follow -- Davenport, Lucretia, and from right next to Angus’s head, Magnus’s rumbly baritone. Taako is puttering around in the kitchen when the song begins, but he joins in on the choruses, and it takes a couple rounds for Angus to notice that the words he’s singing are slightly different. The first time, the corner of Lup’s mouth twitches. The second time, she stumbles on a line giggling. After the third time, in a lull before the verse, she yells over at him,

“ _Taako_. There are _children_ present.”

“Well, _yeah_. That’s why I’m singing the good version. Adults don’t appreciate it.” Taako, leaning on the counter, grins wildly and takes a deep swig of wine. Angus really wishes he had those notes now, but he suspects it won’t be hard to coax the words out of Taako again later.

The song ends on a triumphant long note that the cheerful and tipsy singers eventually manage to reconcile into the same one. There’s laughter and applause. Barry twists around to look over his shoulder, finding Kravitz standing with Avi.

“Want your seat back?” he offers.

Kravitz chuckles and shakes his head. “Keep it, I’m mingling.”

So Barry starts into another Candlenights song. It’s familiar this time, a popular favorite, and once a few other voices remind him how the verse begins, Angus sings along.

 

By the time his mug of cider is empty, Angus feels slightly too warm from the fire, still full, and pleasantly drowsy. Barry fills the gaps between song requests with quiet wandering chords, and Angus is close to drifting off when he hears Carey call out,

“Hey Angus, think fast.”

Angus does, as a rule, and he snaps his eyes open in time to catch a small, heavy package as it lands in his lap. It’s wrapped in bright paper and feels soft but doesn’t bend at all. He turns it over curiously.

“Open it, bud!” Carey encourages.

Magnus, returning from the kitchen with a slice of pie, perks up. “Oh, is it that time?”

“Is now,” Carey informs him.

“In that case, I’ll be right back.” Magnus sets his plate down and hurries upstairs.

Angus slides a finger under the outermost fold of paper and carefully unwraps the gift. Inside he finds a length of thick felt, wound protectively around a pair of long, slender blades.

“Did you just throw _knives_ at a _child_?” Killian looks horrified.

“That’s what they’re for, they’re throwing knives!” Carey strides over and crouches next to Angus. He’s quite alert now, admiring the glint of the firelight on the knives’ polished finish.

“Now I know you’ve got all that fancy magic stuff to protect you,” Carey explains, “but when things get dirty, you just can’t beat a good set of blades.”

“I’m actually usually quite well armed when I’m working,” Angus says without thinking, then catches himself and looks up with a smile. “But it never hurts to have a few more. These are beautiful. Thank you, Carey.”

Carey beams and ruffles his hair. Her scales feel pleasantly knobbly on his scalp. “Whenever you want a lesson with those, you know where to find me.”

Magnus tromps back down the staircase, all but hidden behind a double armful of packages.

Merle’s eyes widen when he sees him. “Hey, what gives? I thought we said we were doing one each!”

“This is one each!” Magnus insists. He releases the heap over a clear corner of the dining table, catching a lightweight box just before it bounces into an abandoned wine glass. “One from me, one from Taako, and one from Kravitz. Plus a couple of extras for the kids …” He roots through the pile, reading labels. “This one’s actually a late birthday present for Lucretia, sorry Luce … and this one …” He frowns, picks up a small, flat gift, and shakes it. “Taako, is this that DVD you were supposed to return?”

Taako sweeps his fingers out theatrically. “It’s Candlenights magic, baby!”

The gift-giving begins in earnest. Some of the guests clearly had an easier time with it than others. No one but Davenport would have thought to give someone an antique cannonball, and no one but Avi would have been delighted to receive it. Sloane looks perplexed by the watering can she gets from Merle; when Hurley bursts out laughing, Sloane rolls her eyes and waters her.

Angus retrieves a neatly wrapped square package from his satchel and looks around. He locates his quarry eventually among the leg supports of the dinner table, hidden almost entirely by the cloth. Angus pokes his head under.

“Hi, Mookie! What are you doing down here?”

“Found a cave,” Mookie explains cheerfully. “I like exploring.”

“You’re pretty good at hiding, too,” Angus admits. “Anyway, Happy Candlenights!” He crawls under the table and hands over the package. “Your sister told me you really like candy, so--”

“Oh boy!” Mookie tears open the paper, sending tiny scraps drifting through his tablecloth cave. Underneath, he finds a slim hardback with a colorful illustration on the front.

“--I got you a book about candy! It’s got history, and recipes, and stories about different kinds of candy from all over the world! There’s all sorts of stuff to learn about candy, and a book can’t give you a stomachache!”

Angus waits hopefully while Mookie peers at the lollipop on the cover. After a few seconds, he licks the illustration experimentally, smacks his lips a few times, and grins.

“It’s perfect! Thanks Angus!”

Angus blinks. “You … you’re welcome!”

He wonders for the first time whether a book _can_ give you a stomachache.


	3. Chapter 3

When Angus emerges from under the table, the cabin floor is festooned with bits of wrapping paper and the party has mostly settled back down again. Across the room, he sees Avi raise his eyebrows at Magnus and discreetly hold up a joint. Magnus gives him a thumbs up and turns to Taako, planting a kiss on the side of his neck before murmuring into his ear. Taako’s eyes flick to Avi, and he heaves a sigh of relief.

“Thought you’d never ask. Hey, Lup!”

While the others don coats and boots, Lup bumps Barry with her hip. “Coming, babe?”

“Nah, I’m good. Have fun, though.” He leans over for a kiss before she sweeps her robe over her shoulders.

Angus finds his way back to the sitting area and finds Lucretia in the big chair by the fire. She’s flipping through Kravitz’s book with a bemused smile, but looks up when she sees him.

“Hello, Angus. Having a good Candlenights?”

“The best,” he replies immediately. “How’s the book?”

“Oh, it’s all right.” She thumbs forward a few pages, eyes flicking rapidly through the text. “The content is nonsense, of course, but I’ve seen worse prose. Really, it’s just an excuse to shoehorn in a romantic side plot full of--” Lucretia suddenly seems to remember who she’s talking to and shakes her head. “Never mind. It’s fine.” She smiles and sets the book down.

There are a few dining chairs loose nearby, left over from the impromptu chorus, and Angus drags one over next to Lucretia.

“I met some of the new Bureau of Benevolence crew the other day,” he tells her. “It’s weird seeing people in the uniform that I don’t know yet.”

Lucretia laughs sympathetically. “That happens when you’re not around for a while. Who did you meet?”

Angus squints, remembering. “Mitsuki, and … Sam.”

“Ah, yes.” Lucretia nods. “I sent them to follow up on some materials research Lucas is doing.” She frowns slightly. “Is he treating you all right?”

“Dr. Miller? Yes, of course!”

Lucretia seems satisfied by that. Nevertheless, she reaches out to rest a hand on Angus’s shoulder. “Don’t forget, there’s always room for you at the Bureau, Angus.”

Angus smiles and reaches up to squeeze her hand. “I’ll come visit soon. I promise.”

 

When Avi, Magnus, and the twins come in from the porch, Angus peeks through the door to see fresh snow falling outside. It’s reached the bottom of the hatch of the glass ball, and the tire tracks from Hurley and Sloane’s car are completely filled in. Kravitz sees him looking and nods.

“It’s getting deep out there. We’re expecting some people to stay over tonight. That includes you, Angus, if you’d like. You too, Barry.”

Barry gives Kravitz a curious look. “You know Lup and I can--”

“Don’t you dare,” Magnus interrupts cheerfully. He drops onto the couch next to Barry. “It’s Candlenights and it’s snowing and you’re all already here.” Magnus leans back and rolls his head to beam at Barry, who chuckles.

“Ah, I see. My mistake. Couldn’t possibly leave tonight, in this weather.”

“That’s the spirit.” Magnus turns to Angus. “What about you, Ango?”

Angus looks around the cabin. “I’d be happy to stay, if there’s room,” he says.

“There’s plenty of room!” Magnus exclaims. “You haven’t seen the upstairs. It’s big up there. Kravitz helped out with that part.”

Kravitz brushes a hand over his mouth, covering a tiny smile. Angus thinks back to his calculations for the energy requirements of pocket dimensions and mentally adds a term for the possibility of divine intervention. He’s not sure if that’s against the rules or not, but if there’s one thing he’s learned about reapers, it’s that they’re not as strict about rules as they say they are.

Taako throws himself against Magnus on the couch, instigating a brief round of shuffling around getting more comfortable. They end up with Barry still more or less upright, Magnus leaning on his chest, and Taako curled up in Magnus’s arms with his legs stretched across the rest of the couch.

“Hey, Barry,” Taako says. He looks sleepy, but his voice is bright. “What did you get my sister for Candlenights?”

Barry blinks and looks over at him. “I … can’t tell you yet. We’re gonna do it when we get home.”

“ _Yeah_ we are.” Lup appears behind Barry with a grin, kisses him heartily on the cheek, and then sprawls sideways across the unoccupied armchair.

“Not that,” Barry says. “Well. Also tha--shut up.” Magnus, Taako, and Lup are all laughing heartily. Barry blushes, but he’s smiling.

“That’s gross and I hate both of you,” Taako informs them, but his heart’s not in it. His eyes are closed, and there’s a distant smile on his face. “Anyway. It better be something special, because she’s the best and she’s here and she deserves it.”

“Mm,” Barry agrees. He’s looking straight ahead, into the hearth. The fire cracks, once, loudly enough to be heard over the soft thrum of conversation from elsewhere in the cabin.

Magnus’s eyes widen slowly. “Wait. Barry. Are you … are you finally gonna--?!”

“Shh!” Taako hisses. He jabs Magnus in the ribs, and Magnus claps a hand over his mouth. “Oh no! Sorry!” He leans his head back, squishing it into Barry’s belly so he can look up at him with a very awkward sort of panic. “Did I ruin it?!”

“Wh-what?” Barry stares at Magnus, then looks quickly over at Lup.

Lup is watching all this with delight. “Oh no,” she croons, giggling into her hand. “Poor Magnus.” She looks up at Barry. “What do you think, should we show him?”

Angus, sitting across the fire and seemingly unnoticed by the group around the couch, tilts his head.

Barry lets out a breath and laughs. “All right,” he says. “All right. It’s as good a time as any, I guess.”

“It’s perfect, actually,” Lup insists. “I’m high, Magnus is in distress, and no one else is paying attention.” She stretches a languid arm out towards Barry. He reaches over, laces their fingers together, and recites with familiar ease an incantation that Angus recognizes as a simplified variation on Drawmij's Instant Summons.

A pair of shining gold bands appears on their fingers.

Magnus nearly falls off the couch.

“WHAT?!” he bellows. “When did--how--!”

The whole cabin is silent for a startled moment before Lup and Taako’s laughter rings off the walls. The rest of the guests, scattered around the room, gather to see what’s going on.

“A-about six weeks ago,” Barry admits, stumbling a little on his own smile. “I, uh. I figured I’d made her wait long enough, at this point.”

“More like I made _you_ wait,” Lup interjects. She sits up and curls her legs under her in the chair, soaking up the attention.

Magnus sputters wordlessly. Barry reaches down to give him as much of a hug as he can from this angle. “Sorry, Maggie. We were going to do the big party thing--”

“--oh, let’s still do that!” Lup cries.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely, we will, we just--everything’s been so hectic, there hasn’t been time for, for anything, really, but we … we wanted to do something just for us. Just until we could get everybody together.”

“We meant to do it ages ago anyway,” Lup adds. “He proposed in, what was it--ninety--”

“Ninety-seven. Come on, Lu, fiftieth anniversary, how do you not remember that?” The reprimand is playful; he’s smiling.

“Oh gosh, that’s right, it was.” Her face lights up. “We went to the--”

“Anyway,” Barry continues hastily. “We didn’t bother telling anyone at the time because we figured it would be a few years before we got the chance, but, uh. Yeah. Turned out to be more complicated than that.”

Taako snorts. “Understatement of the century.”

Magnus squirms upright on the couch so he can peer down at Taako. “Did _you_ know?”

“I’m sorry, are you asking me if my _only sister_ got _married_ without _telling_ me?” Taako is positively radiating self-satisfaction. “Of course I knew. I was there.”

“Who else _didn’t_ know?” Magnus wails, and there finally is the opening for the press of questions and congratulations and otherwise merry shouting that the rest of the party has been patiently holding back. The air swells with excited sound.

Angus squeezes through the throng over to Lup. He’s not sure what he’s planning to say, but as soon as he gets there she reaches down to hug him.

“Angus! When we do the big one, you’re gonna come help out, right?”

“Of course!” Angus says, and that’s enough.

He sees Kravitz clap Barry on the back. He sees Lup and Lucretia embrace tightly, and he can’t hear what they say to each other but Lucretia laughs and Lup kisses her on the cheek. He sees Carey and Killian standing with their arms around each other, both smiling, and dragonborn can’t blush but orcs sure can.

Then he sees Taako tiptoeing up the stairs on the far side of the room, pausing to glance cautiously to each side before ascending the rest of the way.

Angus frowns.

He looks around. In all the fuss around Barry and Lup, no one seems to have noticed one of their hosts sneaking away. Angus makes his way over to the stairs and pads quickly up to the second story.

“Perfect,” comes Taako’s voice from behind him, and despite himself Angus jumps. “Just the person I wanted to see.”

Angus turns to see Taako pulling a door shut. They’re standing at one end of a roomy hallway, decorated in the same style as the space below, with a row of doors on either side. There are arched windows on each end, and Angus can see a few snowflakes drifting past.

“Listen,” Taako says. “I know we agreed to only do one present each, but--” He pulls one more wrapped box out from behind his back.

Angus’s jaw drops.

“S-sir! I … I …”

“Now let’s keep this just between us, okay?” Taako looks at him sternly. “I don’t want anybody getting jealous, and I think you might want to keep this one a secret too once you see what’s in it.”

Angus blinks, and about half of his excitement immediately transmutes into nervousness.

“Why’s that, sir?”

“You’ll see. Trust me. You saw how good I am at keeping secrets just now, right? I don’t want you to worry--”

Angus immediately begins to worry.

“--I just want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.” Taako hands him the box.

Angus looks down at it, now entirely apprehensive but simultaneously vibrating with curiosity. He reaches for the bow.

“You don’t need to do that, it’s one of those boxes that’s made up to look like it’s fancy, you can just take the lid off.”

“Oh.” Angus takes the lid off.

He blinks.

He blinks again.

“I don’t … understand,” he says carefully.

Taako looks pained. “Well, okay. We can still do that if you want, I guess. I mean I’m kind of out here making myself vulnerable pulling you aside like this, but it’s your business and I respect that. I just want you to know I’m looking out for you.”

Angus is still staring into the box. He reaches in, turns one of the items over, checks to see if there’s anything underneath.

“Take your time,” Taako says. “Third door on the left is yours--” He points. “--so you can leave it there when you come back downstairs. I’m gonna head down before anyone gets suspicious.” His expression brightens into a smile. “Happy Candlenights, Ango.”

Taako goes back downstairs. Angus walks slowly into the room Taako pointed at and murmurs a light spell. It’s small, homey, and clean, with a pretty quilt on the bed and a low vanity against the wall. He closes the door behind him.

Angus sets the box down on the bed, takes the items out one at a time, and sets them on the quilt.

A soft brush. A chamois. And a small jar of silver scale polish.

“Huh,” he says.

 

_What do you think, reader?_

_Is this the right gift for Angus?_

_How many clues can you find in the story?_

_(If you’re feeling completely lost right now,[here’s what you’re missing](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAdventureZone/comments/62recp/an_insanely_expanded_list_of_possible_evidence/).)_

_Happy Candlenights!_


End file.
